DIVINE ORDER
I Corinthians 14:33
Anyone who truly knows me well is aware that I am not
the most mechanically gifted person on this earth. I have learned the hard way that it is best not even pretend that I am. It often takes me hours to fix something that most people could fix in only minutes.
Many times I have taken something apart to repair it and have forgotten to pay attention to how it came and apart so I could put it back together again. I have often found myself putting it back together and taking it back apart over and over again my attempts to figure how out the parts go back together.
Often I have whatever I am working with back together and on the outside it looks just like it did before I started except for one thing, it will not work. Something was not put where it belonged; as a result it would not function properly.
I wonder, just how many of our lives could be described in the same manner? Outwardly, things seem to be fine, but inwardly, there is chaos and confusion. It is a life that is missing divine order.
From Genesis to Revelation, Divine order can be observed. During creation, the Lord gave order to the universe. When He ordained the home and marriage, the Lord established order. When the tabernacle was erected, the Lord gave Aaron and his sons the order. Divine order is much more than structure and organization. Whether it is Abraham and Elijah laying "the wood in order," or Manoah seeking to "order the child," divine order brings confidence and direction to our lives.
When you get down to it, living as a Christian is primarily a matter of getting things in order; notice the order given to some things in the gospel of Matthew.
GET RIGHT WITH OUR BROTHER BEFORE YOU CAN WORSHIP
Matthew 5:23-24
PUT SPIRITUAL THINGS BEFORE MATERIAL THINGS
Matthew 6:33
FIRST JUDGE OURSELVES BEFORE WE TRY TO JUDGE ANYONE ELSE
Matthew 7:1-5
FIRST THE INSIDE AND THEN THE OUTSIDE
Matthew 23:25-26
Without this divine order we are destined to repeatedly pursue attractive pathways that will only lead to a dead-end. What evidence should be found in our lives to give indication that we are walking in divine order?
I. A life with divine order will walk with a heart that is moldable.
In Psalm 119:133, the psalmist writes, "Order my steps in Thy word..."
David looked upon nature and saw order ruling
everywhere in Heaven above and on the earth beneath - even among the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea. He desired this same order in his life.
Now, he was not afraid of being laughed at for
living by method and rule, for he saw order to be Divine. He did not aspire to a random life, or envy the free-thinkers, whose motto is, “Do whatever you like.”
Before a man enter upon or engage himself in any business whatsoever, let him to the Word of God, and read there what is to be done; what is not to be done - what God commands, let that be done; what He forbids, let that be undone. Let the Word of God God decide all; let the Word of God be the rule and square of all.
The word "order" carries the idea "to permanently fix and apply."
Have you ever had your children give you a picture and upon closer examination you realized that they had traced the picture by placing their paper over the object they had drawn?
I believe that this is the idea the psalmist had in mind. An ordered life is a life that is cut and copied directly from the mold of Scripture.
Psalm 1
A. Order your steps - ACTIONS
Does not embrace the principles, espouse the proverbs, or encourage the practices of the ungodly.
Psalms 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD.”
B. Order your standing - ASSOCIATIONS
C. Order your sitting - ATTITUDE
Don’ t handle lightly the things of God. Let your attitude toward spiritual things be one of reverence and respect.
II. A life with divine order will work with a heart that is meek.
In II Kings 20:1, Isaiah delivered the Lord’s message to Hezekiah, "...set thine house in order..."
Now, these words did not have as much to do with his domestic affairs as they did the affairs of his heart. He was blessed with great abundance as a king, but II Chronicles 32:25 records, "..his heart was lifted up." He got too big.
When men are greatly prospered, unless kept humble by divine grace they will be lifted up with pride and in their pride will be their ruin.
What a warning is here for us! When we are weak we lean upon the Lord and are safe, but when we are strong the temptation is to become self-important and self - sufficient, and then a fall is near. More fall among the strong than among the timid and trembling.
Simply put, divine order would have put Hezekiah back in his place!
Many are too big for God to use but none are too small.
Hebrews 11 says "out of weakness were made strong."
See 2 Corinthians 12:9,10
Sometimes we get to thinking we can do the work of God all by our self.
God without man is still God; but man without God is nothing. “Without me ye are nothing.” He is everything; we are nothing.
Divine order simply makes us dependent upon Him
in our service.
Without Him we are nothing; without Him we are worthless.
III. A life with divine order will worship with a heart that is merry.
In I Corinthians 14:40, Paul defined the boundaries of
pure worship when he wrote, "let all things be done decently and in order." The word "order" here means "to arrange in a fixed succession of rank or character."
When I think of the abundance of shallow worship today, is it possible we have made worship about us rather than Him?
We have an "order of worship," but there seems to be no order IN our worship!
When our focus of worship is in order, then we will discover our aims, our ambitions, and our attitudes will be in order as well.
The wise men at the birth of Christ had the order right
The worship was about HIM.
Worship is about Him. True Worshiping is seeing Him. See Job 1:20.
Too much done in the name of worship is seen in the horizontal. Worship’s direction is vertical.
A. In TRUE WORSHIP the Saviour is adored.
B. In True WORSHIP the saint is blessed
See Luke 24:52-53 . Note the close connection
between their worship of Christ and the resulting great joy in their heart. The worship of God ever results in the great joy of man. The joy of the Lord is one the many byproducts of worship.
See Acts 16:25. Praying is no surprise but singing.
C. In TRUE WORSHIP the sinner is reached.
See Acts 16:30.
Conclusion
Is your life out of order? If you are walking in divine order, you will walk with a heart that is moldable, will work with a heart that is meek, and will worship with a heart that is merry.
